


sidewalk chalk and cupcakes

by hi_hello_hey_there



Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [18]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Baking, Gen, Good Friend Julie Molina, Sidewalk Chalk, Willie Just Needs Someone to Listen to Him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:22:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29124117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there
Summary: "I was in the neighborhood."
Relationships: Julie Molina & Willie
Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942267
Comments: 17
Kudos: 72





	sidewalk chalk and cupcakes

**Author's Note:**

> It's too late for this and I'm exhausted. No beta, we die like she/theys.

When Julie wakes later than normal Sunday morning to a quiet house, she decides to take the day for herself. The clock reads just before eleven when she ambles down to the kitchen, empty save for two notes on the counter. One says  _ Carlos has a birthday party today. Be back later. Love, Dad _ in her father’s elegant script and the other says  _ catching up on boys’ day traditions enjoy the peace _ in Luke’s cramped chicken scratch. It’s only after months of songwriting with the boy that she can even decipher what it says in the first place, looking rushed and therefore messier.

She tosses them both in the trash with a fond chuckle as she goes about pouring herself a bowl of cereal. The days are getting a tad warmer, so she takes herself out to the deck to get some fresh air. She sits silently, wrapping her bathrobe a little tighter around her, and finishes the cereal in her own time. School’s really starting to pick back up as the year and the semester chug along, sweeping her up in the maelstrom of tests and projects and papers mercilessly. Some deep breaths in and out and a day free of homework and obligations is what she needs today.

Julie stands, smiling at how peaceful she feels, and heads back inside to wash her bowl. She takes a leisurely shower, decides in a spur of the moment to do a fancy sheet mask Flynn bought her, and gets dressed for her day in. She picks out the softest, most well-worm pair of sweats she has and pulls her mom’s bedazzled Sunset Curve tee shirt out of the trunk, slipping them and her Chucks on before heading back downstairs.

Once she faces the fact that she truly has nothing to do, however, Julie draws a blank. She’s staring out the window, looking for an idea when she notices the driveway has dried up after the storm a few days ago and inspiration strikes. She goes about gathering her necessary materials before scooping up a discarded hoodie of Alex’s and heading outside. Studying the layout for a moment, she decides on starting closer to the edge of the driveway and working her way in. The chalks plink musically against each other as she sets them down, picking out a thin piece of white chalk to outline with. She pauses, unsure of what to start with, before she decides on drawing a piano. Using her foot as a guideline, she maps out the keys along the entire width of the driveway and once she’s satisfied with how it looks, she gets to work shading.

First, though, she pulls her phone out of her pocket and picks a long playlist she knows she won’t want to skip through as her hands will be absolutely covered in chalk dust in no time. She bops her head as the first few beats of the song pour out of the speakers and grabs a piece of blue chalk and gets started. She must be there an hour, tirelessly filling in the keys rainbow, rubbing the chalk smooth, and going back to color the black keys. Her hands are stained with all the colors, but it looks really good in her own humble opinion. She feels bad that she’s only drawn her own instrument and so she starts up another outline, this time two guitars with the necks crossed one over the other, one with six strings and the other four. Deciding to keep the theme consistent, she decides that the first one will be rainbow tie-dye and the second will be black and white.

Now that she’s in the rhythm of things, she finishes the first guitar in no time at all and sets to work on the other, filling in the body with black and highlighting with white. It’s not long before she hears someone walk past the driveway and stop. Looking up, she realizes it’s Willie of all people. “Hey. What’s up?” She resists the urge to wipe the caked chalk on her pants and settles on beckoning him over instead. He delicately steps past the piano, careful not to smudge anything, and stands awkwardly before Julie. “What are you doing here?”

**“I was in the neighborhood.”** He cracks a small smile and Julie gets the sense she’s missing something. At her questioning look, he elaborates. “When Alex told me your address, I didn’t realize we lived so close. I mean, I’d only been here once before I came that day asking for help and neither time did I stop to check where I was. But I live a few streets that way.” He points the direction he came from before his eyes return to her.

She realizes slowly that he’s not fixing  _ her _ with that intense gaze, but rather what she’s wearing. She glances down at the hunter green hoodie and back up at Willie, offering up a apologetic grin. “Sorry, Alex isn’t here. He and the guys are catching up on boys’ day traditions? Whatever that means.”

Willie laughs along with her, shoving his hands deeper in his pockets as he does so. “Actually, I’m here to talk to you.” Well, that certainly surprises her. “Alex said you’d be willing to listen and you’re good at it.”

She gesture for him to sit and he does. “If you’d like to draw while you talk, go right ahead. I’m all ears.”

They’re silent for a moment, Julie’s music still playing softly in the background while he peeks at the chalk available. He picks out a few colors and starts on the broad area of concrete in front of him. Julie has finished the bass she’d been shading, starting on the outline of a very rough drum kit, and Willie has some yellow and orange blended together before he starts talking. “I run into things a lot now. And people.” A bitter chuckle escapes him as he reaches for a shade of pink. “I go on these long walks because I’m not allowed to skate anymore and the doctor thinks it’s good for me to use my legs as much as possible, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of times I’ve almost plowed someone over cause I wasn’t paying attention. It’s hard to explain away all the bumping and tumbling and tripping when every medical professional says there’s not nearly as much atrophy as there should be in your legs when you’ve been out of the game for so long.

“It’s really strange, because of course I was conscious the whole time, technically, and so I know a lot about what’s happened since my accident. I make references I shouldn’t be able to and know lyrics to songs that came out two years ago. I can tell that my parents think something’s up but they’re just glad that I’m not a vegetable anymore so they don’t say anything. My therapist knows a lot about what happened, but not enough. It feels stupid to say, ‘My soul was held hostage by an evil vaudevillian ghost who wanted to drain me of my life force,’ and not be expected to be locked up on the spot.” There’s a pause in his story and he seems to be absently running his fingers over what he’s drawn so far: a creamy swatch of color that transitions from yellow to orange and pink and red and purple. “Not to mention the whole Alex thing. Tell me if it’s weird I’m talking about your bandmate to you.”

Julie stares at the drums she’d been working on, the cymbals almost completely filled in, and feels the coincidence of it all creep up on her. “No. Go ahead. Let it all out.”

He grabs up the tiny white piece she’d been using for outlining and draws vague shapes in his gradient. “I don’t know if he told you, but he came to see me on New Year’s Eve.” This is a shock to Julie but she tries not to let it show. “We had a conversation through a piece of paper and he sang to me, but I still miss seeing him. I kinda wish… I kinda wish he’d never come at all because then I wouldn’t be feeling this, like, hollow, echo-y feeling in my whole body whenever I think about him, but then I feel so bad about thinking that that I keep thinking about him. It’s exhausting.” He _sounds_ exhausted but she doesn’t say anything about that. “The universe must hate me or something. Finally, I found something good and I can’t even hold onto it. Classic Willie.” Julie watches as he tips his head back towards the sky and squeezes his eyes shut, forcing measured breaths in and out of his lungs. “I just feel like crap all the time because I’m still getting used to having a physical body again and everything is sore and I missed my graduation and my sisters keep walking on eggshells around me. And on top of all that is my emotional baggage. Some days, I’d rather just curl up into a ball and disappear.”

Julie notices that it’s not random shapes he’s drawing, but clouds, and he adds the shading to them as he finishes. “Hey.” He looks up at her. “You can always come here when you feel like that. We can do something you like and talk or not talk at all. Okay?”

A tiny grin makes its way onto his mouth. “Okay. Thanks. Maybe we could bake next time.”

At the mention of food, Julie’s stomach rumbles and she checks her phone carefully. When she realizes that it’s well into the afternoon, she starts to stand from her work, clapping the dust off her hands. “Or we could do that now? I’m pretty sure we have ingredients and the proper tools to make just about anything.”

“Really?” Willie asks, a slightly flabbergasted look coming over his face. It makes Julie chuckle.

She offers one of her hands out to him. “Really, really.” He lets her help hoist him off the ground before she heads towards the hose and rinses the chalk off of her hands. She lets Willie do the same before leading the way into the house. She shoots off a response to her dad’s text asking if she’s okay before she spreads her arms wide. “What would you like to make today, Chef McKay?”

“I’m feeling red velvet cupcakes, Chef Molina. Thoughts?” He plays along with Julie’s ridiculous game and they both laugh.

“That sounds wonderful. What do we need?” Willie starts listing off ingredients off the top of his head and it takes everything in Julie to not be shocked. She gathers what they need and he gets to work. After asking for bowls and measuring tools, Julie hands him an apron so he won’t get his clothes dirty. She removes Alex’s hoodie and delicately folds it over the back of a dining room chair before tying one to herself.

She hooks up her phone to the dock in the kitchen and plays something upbeat so they don’t have to think too much. She does as directed and soon they’re filling a muffin tray with liners and batter, shoving it into the oven to bake while they start on a cream cheese frosting. They both tell each other terrible jokes or funny family stories to keep the mood light. Willie squawks indignantly when she scoops a dollop of the finished frosting out of the bowl with her finger before he can put it in the fridge to chill. When a song from Teen Beach Movie comes on, they amble through what choreography they can remember, laughing at the other’s antics or horribly misremembered dance steps and sooner rather than later the oven is going off.

An hour or so later, they have the finished product: red velvet cupcakes, cooled and frosted to perfection. They each try one and Julie has to keep the highly embarrassing sound she was about to make at bay. “Willie, this is amazing. If you bake like this all the time, you might just give my _tía_ a run for her money. Mmm.” She takes another bite and can hardly believe how good it tastes.

“Thanks, Jules,” he says modestly, but his face is glowing with pride. “We should make this a regular thing. I liked hanging out with you today.”

She swallows her last bite and sends a pleased smile towards him. “I’d like that very much.”

He lets out a low, “Cool,” before he sets to finishing his cupcake and storing most of the rest in the fridge. She’s sending him off not long after that with a Tupperware full of cupcakes for his family, a new contact in his phone, and a promise to not be a stranger. He gives her one last wave before he disappears around the corner.

Yeah, Julie thinks as she locks the front door behind her and settles on the couch to rewatch Knives Out for the umpteenth time. She can already tell they’re going to be great friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Jess actually came up with the idea that Willie's literally the next cake boss and I can't help but agree that he would be a wonderful baker. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet cause I need to get in bed. I haven't slept very much lately. Prompts are open from [this list](https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) except for 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 26, 31, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 48, 49, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 82, 83, 86, 91, 92, 98, and 99. You can drop a comment here or send me a message on tumblr. Have a lovely week, darlings, and thanks for reading!
> 
> main: [hi-hello-hey-there](https://hi-hello-hey-there.tumblr.com/)  
> side: [toziers-token](https://toziers-token.tumblr.com/)
> 
> love, blue


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